WE need a big performance against Northampton Saints this Saturday on home soil and to respond to our 32-9 defeat at Bath.

The Recreation Ground is a notoriously hard place to visit and when Bath are on form they can be difficult to contain.

However, we made the trip with real energy and determination to gain a positive result, particularly given my old team Sale beat Exeter the night before meaning we had an opportunity to move closer to the top six.

After a poor start, where we conceded an early try, I was delighted with our work-rate in the first 40 minutes. Even though I had to sit out 10 minutes, we were competitive and felt we had taken the sting out of them.

The key moment came early in the second-half as, with Bath down to 14 men, we put them under huge pressure.

We had a good chance to score from a driving line-out and then a scrum and that was when we needed to strike and take control.

That was undoubtedly the turning point as all our efforts came to nothing and then Tom Biggs scored at the other end. After that, it was a hard afternoon and we were left bitterly disappointed.

While we didn’t get the right result, I would like to give credit to a number of players who were struggling with illness on the day as a sickness bug struck the camp.

However, that is in no way an excuse for what happened, the team selected was good enough to get the victory we wanted.

Goodey (Andy Goode) had little choice but to drop out after the warm-up and Danny (Gray), who had a similar issue, had to step up to the plate.

I thought he produced a fantastic performance given how he was feeling and having spent most of the morning in bed. He certainly gave everything for us and ran the tank empty by the end.

This Saturday, we face a Northampton team who will also be hurting after they lost at home to Gloucester. The Saints will be missing a few players through international duty, but they are still a top quality team and we will need to be at our best.

One area we will need to focus on is the drive as we didn’t manage to deal with that effectively against Bath, who based their game off it and scored tries through it.

Northampton also have a strong driving game so we have got to plan to stop it and make sure we get on the front foot as a group of forwards.

Our last home performance against Saracens in the LV= Cup was not good enough and this weekend against the Saints we need to put the record straight.

We have been proud of our home record this season and out last Aviva Premiership game at Sixways saw the Warriors play some of our best rugby of the season in the opening half against Leicester. That is the standard we need to reproduce as we face up to a massive challenge.

It’s also vital we put on a show for our supporters, who I know will feel the same frustration as we do over the last few results. It would be fantastic to see you all right behind us as we face our biggest game of the season.